South Texas Congressman Ortiz isn't ready to concede seat

WILL WEISSERT, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published 5:30 am, Wednesday, November 3, 2010

SAN ANTONIO — Tea party-backed Republican Blake Farenthold, a former business owner and local radio host, has declared victory in Texas' 27th Congressional district with a scant 799 vote advantage, but longtime Democratic incumbent Solomon Ortiz has not conceded.

With all precincts reporting Wednesday in the House district that stretches from the industrial Gulf Coast city of Corpus Christi down to Brownsville on the border with Mexico, Farenthold received 50,954 to Ortiz's 50,155 votes, according to unofficial results released by the secretary of state's office.

In a phone interview from his downtown Corpus Christi campaign headquarters, a converted storefront full of cubicles left over from his computer consulting business, Farenthold said he had not heard from Ortiz.

Of calling for a recount, Farenthold said, "that's certainly his right, but I think it'll be indicative of his campaign. That Ortiz doesn't listen to the people."

There is no minimum threshold for how close the race was in asking for a recount because some counties in the district used electronic voting machines, said Randall Dillard, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's office said.

The candidate requesting a recount must pay a deposit for each precinct involved, and must then cover the full cost of the recount - unless it ends up changing the final results of the election.

Heavily Hispanic in many areas, South Texas is traditionally a Democratic stronghold. But Farenthold said some of Ortiz's votes in the House came back to haunt him, including his support of the health care overhaul.

"I'm committed to voting to repeal Obamacare or defending it as much as possible," said Farenthold, 48, whose wife and two college-aged daughters helped hand out Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Nestle Crunches and other candy wrapped with Farenthold fliers in the final days of the campaign.

Two other Texas Democrats were ousted from Congress in Tuesday's vote by Republican newcomers who also capitalized on a wave of voter frustration at the federal government and the economy. Rep. Chet Edwards of Waco was ousted after 20 years in Congress by Republican Bill Flores, an oil and gas executive who had never run for public office, and Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, who has spent 11 years in the House, lost to Republican Francisco Canseco.

Farenthold won by a wide margin in the northern, more-conservative part of the district, which includes Corpus Christi, while Ortiz received strong support farther south, including heavily Hispanic areas in the Rio Grande Valley.

Tea party support also played a role, however. At recent rallies in Brownsville, activists began anti-Ortiz chants that played on vulgar Mexican slang.

Farenthold has said he was happy to be backed by tea party supporters, but also notes that he is moderate on immigration, supporting a guest-worker program and ways for recent immigrants to win U.S. citizenship after background checks.

"My message on immigration is that the people who want to come to this country, by and large even those who have done it illegally, are coming for the right reasons, not to take advantage of our welfare system," he said.

Ortiz is a one-time county sheriff who prides himself on winning earmarks for constituents in a district whose economy is reliant on deep-water ports and four military bases. He won re-election handily in 2008, taking nearly 58 percent of the vote against then Republican challenger Willie Vaden.

Farenthold, a political novice and former self-described "sidekick" on talk radio in Corpus Christi, beat Vaden for the Republican nomination this time.

But Ortiz said Farenthold was able to gain ground thanks to the Supreme Court decision that made it easier for corporations and unions to spend money in elections.

"They're giving all this money to candidates just to give us a hard time," Ortiz said last week.

Indeed, the conservative 60 Plus Association spent $156,000 in one week supporting Farenthold in the campaign's final days - nearly one-fifth of what Ortiz has spent all year, according to OpenSecrets.org, an independent site that tracks the influence of money on U.S. politics.

Ortiz was also the subject of ethics violations accusations for misspending travel stipends.

"I think a fair amount of my votes were 'not-for-Ortiz' votes and I'm going to have to work hard to earn the 'for Blake' votes," Farenthold said.

Farenthold is grandson of Frances "Sissy" Farenthold, a Democrat who served two terms in the state House and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1972. That same year, she finished second in balloting to become George McGovern's vice presidential candidate at the Democratic convention.

She endorsed her grandson's candidacy - but grudgingly. Asked if his victory might be bittersweet for his grandmother, Farenthold said, "I think it's going to be all right."

"I wasn't the one candidate who swung the House Republican," he said. "It was going that way anyway."